Development Account Projects

Improving criminal justice responses to trafficking in persons in
South-Eastern Europe with special focus on Moldova

Background:

The regular monitoring of the implementation of the United Nations Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime and its related protocols indicate that the
criminal justice systems in South-Eastern Europe are still inadequate to provide
effective responses to human trafficking despite the existence of relevant national
legislation, action plans and respective structures in place. Among the countries of
South-Eastern Europe, Moldova was identified as a major source country, primarily
for the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation.

This project is therefore, designed to improve the criminal justice responses of
Moldova to trafficking in persons through increased operational capacity to
investigate and disrupt human trafficking activities. The project is aimed at
enhancing regional cooperation among justice and home affairs institutions of
Moldova and the identified countries in the region through intensive international
knowledge transfer, institutional strengthening and capacity-building measures.

The project builds upon lessons learned and expertise developed as a result of the
well-established field presence of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) in the region. It will be implemented under the overall supervision of the
Regional Project Office for South-Eastern Europe, in Sofia, and the substantive units
of UNODC headquarters. The project will be executed by the UNODC field office in
Moldova in partnership with the relevant institutions in Moldova, and in cooperation
with identified UNODC field offices. In order to create synergies and maximize costeffective
impact, the project will build upon all ongoing UNODC projects on human
trafficking in the region. More specifically, the project will take advantage of the
network of national focal points already set up within the project "Strengthening
Criminal Justice Responses to the Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings and
Human Smuggling in the Western Balkans" and will integrate Moldova in the
network. Further, the project will make use of all training materials already
developed by UNODC, such as training manual and toolkits.

Objective:

To strengthen criminal justice
responses to trafficking in persons in Moldova through national
capacity-building and enhancement of regional cooperation
among justice and home affairs institutions of Moldova and target
countries in the South-Eastern Europe region.

Expected accomplishments:

Enhanced knowledge of the existing
national responses in addressing trafficking in
human beings by national institutions in Moldova — gaps and needs identified

Enhanced knowledge and improved
capacity of the relevant law enforcement and
criminal justice practitioners to adequately
address cases of trafficking in persons

Improved regional cooperation among
national governmental institutions and their
operational teams dealing with human
trafficking in Moldova and other countries of the
region